Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

_TELL EL-FARKHA

EGYPT

cular pits (3B1 and 3B2) filled with brown
soil that clearly differs from the surround-
ing steely-gray colored silt, were found
adjoining unit 1A3 on the east.
Under the silt floor, a homogeneous
brownish layer came to light, yielding
abundant pottery material but few flint
artifacts.
A distinct change was observed at
a depth of ca. 220 cm. The color of the soil
changed to a paler shade and an obvious
discoloration was noted repeatedly (includ-
ing a clear black pit, designated as B2,
with pottery), most of them characterized
by sizable concentrations of pottery.
A sand layer of dark gray color begins
at 230 cm depth. Several black pits of
irregular shape occur in it, especially in its
SW part. At 240 cm depth these pits com-
bined to form one of a rectangular shape
with the outer perimeter marked by a band
of black soil lined with abundant pottery
on the inside; the soil filling the center is
obviously lighter in color and contains
little archaeological material. This pit, des-
ignated as B2, ended at 270 cm, at which
point two pits of a diameter of ca. 30 cm
appeared in the W corner. These pits were
lined with tamped silt and contained no
material. The rest of the trench yielded
small amounts of pottery, occasional flint
objects — obviously production waste, and
infrequent animal bones.
The yellow sand underneath made the
objects found in it appear very distinct. At
ca. 330 cm, evident pits were observed: B5
— a semicircular pit disappearing under the
NW trench wall, and B6 — a more oval one
disappearing under the NE trench wall.
Both pits revealed a steely-gray fill with
a distinct framing of the walls, darker in
the case of B5 and a steely-bluish color in
B6. Pit B6 is cut by a dark, almost black pit
(B7) disappearing under the NW trench
wall. Between B5 and B6 there was an

irregular darker shape, resembling in color
the fill of both pits (perhaps a passage?). In
all the pits pottery was relatively abundant,
accompanied by some bones. A sherd deco-
rated with red-painted bands was found in
B5. Pit B5 ended at 360 cm depth, B6 at
355 cm and B7 at 375 cm. In the last case,
exploration of the last 10 cm was greatly
hindered by water seeping into the trench.
This occupational level should be assigned
to the Lower Egyptian Culture.
Once the trench had been completed
and documented, it was extended 1.5 m to
the southwest. The extension, designated
as W01a/98, was explored following the
natural stratigraphy; 21 layers were distin-
guished.
TRENCH W02/98
A second trench designated as W02/98
(3x5 m) was traced to the northwest of the
first one. The finds from the topmost layer
were few and indistinct. Further down
there was more pottery and flint tools,
mainly flakes and sickle blades (Fig. 2).
In the western part of the trench, at
a depth of ca. 55 cm, a recessed brick wall
(2A1) came to light; it followed a N-S
orientation with a slight deviation to the
east. A transversal wall, oriented more or
less E-W, appeared at 60 cm; joining struc-
ture 2Al, the wall divided the space into
two units: 2Ala (north) and 2Alb (south).
A single course of bricks is all that remains
of the two walls. The entire area of the
trench at this level yielded abundant pot-
tery and flint artifacts (sickle blades, knife
fragments, flakes and chips), and a consid-
erable quantity of animal bones.
At 80 cm depth an evident occupation-
al layer of a brownish color was noted; it
contained potsherds, flint tools (including
a short knife, sickle blades and numerous
animal bones, but no archaeological struc-
tures. Only at 135 cm below the surface

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